The Bible is the greatest book ever written. When He was moved by compassion, darkness could not withstand His power.

Instead, He turned to the weapons of righteousness. Jesus was a warrior king, but He did not use the weapons of human warfare. In the time of Jesus, most Jews who were expecting the promised Messiah thought that he would come as a warrior king, much like David, and defeat the Roman occupation. No heartache can stand against it.” Can you expand on that?

Speaking of Jesus, one of your characters in Land of Silence says, “Compassion becomes a weapon of warfare in Jesus’s hands.

In His presence, we enter the power that binds despair. God has the power to destroy hopelessness and its repercussions. We can either sink under the weight of despair, or pray ourselves out of it. Even the Apostle Paul admits to experiencing despair when he says: “we were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure so that we despaired, even of life.” In such seasons, we have only two real options. There are seasons of life when we may land in despair. You can either sink or pray when it lodges at your door.” What did you mean by those words?

You write: “Despair is an invitation to prayer.

I think that is the most effective response to suffering, and the one Jesus modeled for us.

One painful hour at a time to trust Him still and call Him Father. Will we be angry? Will we despair? Will we reject God? Elianna’s response is to be faithful to God one step at a time. As hard as we may try to control our circumstances, suffering will find us and make its home with us for a season. The heroine of the story, Elianna, tells her sister: “One step at a time, we can go forward, and learn to be faithful in suffering.” What did she mean by this?.And when we grasp the depth of that claim, our internal lives are transformed. Ultimately, I think He addresses all His followers in the same way. I was intrigued by this anomaly, and based a large part of the storyline on Jesus’ reason for addressing her in such a tender manner. Interestingly, the woman with the issue of blood is the only person that Jesus addresses directly as daughter.

He is very intentional with every word He chooses. I have always known that there are no throw-away phrases with Jesus. Did you learn anything as you researched this novel? Land of Silence is based on the story of the woman with the issue of blood.Thank you Tessa for joining us today to learn more about you and your latest book Land of Silence!

Land of silence by tessa afshar